Italy face the prospect of a difficult World Cup qualifying draw after they lost to Portugal 1-0 in an international friendly on Tuesday.

Antonio Conte's Italy went into the game in Geneva in the knowledge that nothing less than a victory would give them the Ranking points they required to climb above Croatia and be seeded in pot 1 for the draw in St Petersburg on July 25.

But Portugal, who were without the rested Cristiano Ronaldo, needed only one goal from Eder in the 52nd minute to help end a 39-year wait for a victory over Italy.

It means that Italy, who will be joined in pot 2 by France, could be drawn with one of their fellow European heavyweights in either Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, England, Portugal or Spain. They will hope to get lucky and be in a group with either Romania or Wales, who are the other nations in pot 1.

Only the group winners are guaranteed to qualify for Russia 2018, with the best the runners-up can hope for being a playoff. In qualifying for the 2014 World Cup, France were drawn with Spain and only made it to Brazil after defeating Ukraine in a playoff.

Even though Italy reached the final of the European Championship in 2012, the Ranking points from that tournament are now only worth 20 percent of the total score. And Italy's dismal record in international friendlies means they have slipped out of Europe's top nine despite being undefeated in qualifying for Euro 2016.

Great disappointment to see the Matildas eliminated. I thought the heat would favour them but it didn't because the Japanese appeared more resiiant and dare I say it...Fitter. Having said that well done Matildas, You gave your best and you are not far short of being world champions.

With Jordan (coached by Harry Redknapp) currently leading 6-0 against Bangladesh in the second half, the Socceroos will only need a draw against Jordan next Tuesday night to go through to the next stage of qualifying.

If Australia lose to Jordan they may still qualify through to the next stage of qualifying, as one of the four highest ranked runner-up teams.

Working this out is going to be a lot more complicated due to the disqualification of Indonesia (from Group F) and the postponements of Kuwait's last three games (Group G).

Because Group F only has four teams and hence this results in teams from other groups playing more matches, it was determined by the AFC that the results from the matches against the last-placed (fifth) team in each group would be disregarded when ranking the second-placed teams.

In Australia's case, the two wins and nine goals scored against Bangladesh wouldn't count to their ranking.

So if Australia lost, their fate could be determined by: ⚫ which teams end up finishing second in each group; then ⚫ which team finishes fifth in each group (i.e. which results then wouldn't count for other teams).

Most of the runner-up teams could finish with around the same points (after discarding the results of the two games against the fifth-placed side), so their 7-0 win against Tajikistan last night could take on more importance, if goal difference is required.

Hopefully Australia can win or draw against Jordan on Tuesday night and none of what I said will apply.

Split into two groups of 6, groups not yet drawn. Top 2 from each group qualify for World Cup. 3rd place team from each group to play-off with winner to play inter-confederation playoff against 4th-placed North/Central American (CONCACAF) team to qualify for World Cup.

Top 2 from each group qualify to 5th round. 5th round, six teams, top 3 teams qualify for World Cup. Fourth-placed team to play inter-confederation playoff against Asian (AFC) team to qualify for World Cup.

Top 4 teams qualify for World Cup. Fifth-placed team to play inter-confederation playoff against Oceania (OFC) winner to qualify for World Cup.

OFC (Oceania)

Next matches are in May

Second-round qualifying

Group A: Tahiti, New Caledonia, Samoa, Papua New Guinea.

Group B: New Zealand, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu.

Top 3 from each group qualify to 3rd round. 3rd round, 2 groups of 3 teams, top team from each group to play-off with the winner to play an inter-confederation playoff against 5th-placed South American (CONMEDOL) team to qualify for World Cup.

Top team from each group qualifies for World Cup. The top 8 ranked runner-ups will play-off with the winner from each play-off qualifying for the World Cup. Russia automatically qualifies for the World Cup as host nation.

Split into two groups of 6, groups not yet drawn. Top 2 from each group qualify for World Cup. 3rd place team from each group to play-off with winner to play inter-confederation playoff against 4th-placed North/Central American (CONCACAF) team to qualify for World Cup.